SCIENCE vs. EVOLUTION

Chapter 14b:

Effects of the Flood

What actually Happened after the Flood

3 - CONDITIONS BEFORE THE FLOOD

What were conditions like prior to the Flood? There
are several pre-Flood evidences that we find today:

WARMER CLIMATE—Fossil-bearing
rocks from all "ages" reveal that a worldwide warm climate once
existed, with no distinct climatic zones such as we now have.
For example, palm trees and giant ferns grew in the far north and far
south. These were buried at the time of the Flood, revealing what
the local climate was like prior to that time.

"It has long been felt that the average climate
of the earth throughout time has been milder and more homogenous
than it is today. If so, the present certainly is not a very
good key to the past in terms of climate."—*R.H. Dott and *R.L.
Batten, Evolution of the Earth (1971), p. 298.

Prior to the Flood, the climate worldwide was warm
and uniformly pleasant.

"In those days [when the dinosaurs lived] the
earth had a tropical or sub-tropical climate over much of its land
surface, and in the widespread tropical lands there was an abundance
of lush vegetation. The land was low and there were no high
mountains forming physical or climatic barriers."—*E.H. Colbert,
"Evolutionary Growth Rates in the Dinosaurs," in Scientific Monthly,
August 1949, p. 71.

"Climatic conditions were then much more uniform
over the earth than now. Considerable limestone formations, of
Cambrian age at high latitudes, indicate strongly that they were
there deposited in relatively warm or temperate waters."—*W.J.
Miller, An Introduction to Historical Geology (1952), p. 116.

"The general distribution and character of the
rocks and their fossil content point to more uniform climatic
conditions than those of today. Fossils in the Arctic rocks are not
essentially different from those of low latitudes."—*Op. cit., p.
143.

"In the case of the Devonian, such evidence is
indicative of a worldwide mild climate."—*O.D. von Engeln and
*K.E. Caster, Geology (1952), p. 596.

"As for the earlier Paleozoic periods, the
character and distribution of Mississippian fossils rather clearly
prove absence of well-defined climatic zones like those of today."—*W.
J. Miller, An Introduction to Historical Geology (1952), p. 169.

Even evolutionists recognize that coal was formed
from deposits of massive amounts of vegetation, primarily trees. It is
now known that large coal deposits exist today in the continent of
Antarctica. This is another evidence of an earlier, worldwide warm
climate.

"There would have been no white polar caps or
reddish-brown desert regions, for thick green vegetation covered
almost all of the land areas, even in polar regions (thick coal
deposits have been discovered in the mountains of Antarctica)."—John
C. Whitcomb, Early Earth (1986), p. 22.

The Antarctic once had an abundance of vegetation and
large trees, as is shown by "widespread discoveries of coal and
petrified wood." The Arctic regions were once tropical:

"Geologists mine coal for science in . . the
Horlick Mountains [of the Antarctic]. The Ohio State University
scientists found coal that dates from the Permian Period, about 250
million years ago, when Antarctica had a comparatively warm
climate." "Five geologists last year drilled and blasted 20 feet to
bring out virtually unweathered Antarctic coal. Widespread
discoveries of surface coal and petrified wood show that Antarctica
had luxuriant vegetation 250 million years and more ago."—*D.M.
Tyree, "New Era in the Loneliest Continent," Natíonal Geographic,
February 1963, pp. 288, 296.

"Baron Toll, the Arctic explorer, found remains
of a saber-toothed tiger and a 90-foot [274 dm] plum tree with green
leaves and ripe fruit on its branches over 600 miles [966 km] north
of the Arctic Circle in the New Siberian Islands. Today the only
vegetation that grows there is a one-inch high willow."—Joseph C.
Dillow, The Waters Above (1982), p. 346.

"Fossil plants found by Chilean scientists on
King George Island puts Antarctica’s ancient past in a temperate
clime. Further proof of the continent’s warm ancestry lies in its
coal, the transformed remains of forests long dead."—*W.R.
Curtsinger, "Antarctica’s Newer Side," National Geographic, November
1971, p. 653.

"Dr. Jack A. Wolfe in a [1978] U.S. Geological
Survey Report told that Alaska once teemed with tropical plants. He
found evidence of man-groves, palm trees, Burmese lacquer trees, and
groups of trees that now produce nutmeg and Macassar oil."—*Op.
cit. p. 348.

The Vapor Canopy

WATER VAPOR—What
produced the changeover from a worldwide warm climate to our present
climate zones that vary between very hot to icy cold? It was
probably a change in the earth’s atmosphere.

There are three factors in the atmosphere that
provide us with whatever greenhouse-type climate we have today:
ozone, carbon dioxide, and water vapor. If, prior to the
Flood, one or more of these were more abundant in the air above us, a
profound change in our worldwide climate would occur.The most
powerful of the three is water vapor. Indeed, a lot of the water in our
present oceans, came out of the skies at the time of the Flood!

A universal water-vapor blanket must have covered our
planet in ancient times. It is called the "vapor canopy."
The evidence is clearly available that tropical plants were once in the
far north and south. Only a great increase in encircling water could
possibly explain that earlier worldwide warm climate.

"An increase of water vapor . . would raise the
temperature of the earth’s surface . . and would increase the
temperature of the air at a height of four or five miles [6-8 km]
more than that at the surface, and so lessen the decrease of
temperature with height."—*C.E.P. Brooks, Climate Through the
Ages (1949), p. 115.

Apart from a massive increase in pre-Flood water
vapor, the situation we find in the rock strata is unexplainable.

"There is little evidence that climatic belts
existed in the earlier history of the earth, yet climatic zonation,
both latitudinal and vertical, is clearly apparent in all parts of
the earth today. This anomalous situation is difficult to explain.

"It is impossible to reconstruct a
super-continent which could lie entirely within one climatic regime.
Any rotating planet, orbiting the sun on an inclined axis of
rotation, must have climatic zonation. It is obvious, therefore,
that climatic conditions in the past were significantly different
from those in evidence today."—*Edgar B. Heylmun, "Should We
Teach Uniformitarianism?" in Journal of Geological Education,
January 1971, p. 36.

"The principle atmospheric absorber for the
entrant sunlight is water vapor. Absorption by ozone being a minor
factor qualitatively, the other gases are virtually transparent.
Absorption of the outgoing radiation from the earth is again largely
due to water vapor, with carbon dioxide and ozone playing lesser
roles . . The part absorbed tends to warm the atmosphere, and just
as the warm glass of the greenhouse tends to raise the temperature
of the interior, the water vapor tends to raise that of the earth’s
surface below it. This surface, or any object on it, is constantly
exchanging radiation with the water vapor in the atmosphere, so the
temperature of the surface is closely dependent upon the amount and
temperature of this vapor."—*Harold K. Blum, Time’s Arrow and
Evolution (1951), p. 57.

"Calculations show that a 50-percent decrease in
the amount of carbon dioxide in the air will lower the average
temperature of the earth 6.9 degrees Fahrenheit. We can be
reasonably sure that such a sharp drop in temperature would cause
glaciers to spread across the earth."—*Gilbert N. Plass, "Carbon
Dioxide and Climate," in Scientific American, Vol. 201, July 1959,
p. 42.

It has been suggested that our planet was not
inclined 23o prior to the
Flood. But, if the earth was not then on an inclined axis (which may
well not be true), worldwide yearly temperatures would be even more
extreme than now! The only solution to the problem is that a sizeable
portion of the water in the oceans was once in the skies overhead.

LOWER SEA LEVELS—Before the
Flood there were probably only broad rivers. The enormous concave ocean
basins we have today—in some places over five miles [8 km]
deep—were not needed then. The entire
earth must, indeed, have been very beautiful.

There are several lines of evidence that tell us
that, at some earlier time, the ocean basins FILLED with water. Here are
some of them:

(1) Seamounts were first discovered by a
naval captain during World War II. As a personal research project during
trips back and forth across the Pacific, Harry H. Hess, commander of an
attack transport, the U.S.S. Cape Johnson, kept his deep-water
echo sounder turned on all the time. Continuous profiles of the sea
bottom were recorded on graph paper. Analyzing the data, he discovered
extinct volcanoes hundreds of feet beneath the sea with their tops
flattened off.

None of them broke the surface of the ocean. The name
"seamounts" was given to these formations. (An alternate name for
them is "guyots.") What could have caused them?

Volcanic activity began before the Flood ended. The
volcanoes in the basin of the ocean, which became extinct before the
seas had filled, had their summits eroded away—flattened out—by storm
and wave action as sea level reached those summits. The oceans kept
filling and the horizontal tops became submerged, some distance
below the surface.

This would also explain some of the coral atolls in
the Pacific. Coral only grows near the surface, yet the
remains of earlier coral are to be found deeper in the ocean. It
has been said that low-lying and partially or totally submerged
volcanoes, in the center of these coral formations, probably sunk at
some time in the past. That is possible. Or they could have been
covered by the rising ocean.

Oceanic volcanoes could also have blown their tops,
as Krakatoa did a century ago; but such explosions would not lower the
tops as far down as they presently are, nor would they flatten the tops.
As the oceans neared their present level, infilling would slow and
coral would have time to build atolls above those particular guyots.

(2) Similarities between plants and trees of now
widely separated areas. Vegetation in Brazil has a number
of remarkable similarities to that of western Africa. Climatic
conditions may be the sole cause of this similarity of vegetation on
separated continents. But the possibility that the South Atlantic
in ancient times may not have existed as a broad ocean could
also be a factor.

It is clear that remarkable evidence of a former
worldwide Flood is abundant. Wherever we turn we encounter new insights
into its effects. A sizeable amount of additional evidence will be found
in the appendix (at the back of this chapter, Effects of the Flood,
on our website). The Whitcomb and Morris book, The Genesis Flood,
will also provide you with much additional scientific data on this
topic.

4 - EFFECTS OF THE FLOOD

With the exception of its initial Creation, our world
has been changed more by the Flood than by any other event in the
history of this planet. There is hardly a place where you and I
can look, which has not been drastically affected by the Flood and its
immediate aftereffects: the deserts, the seas, the river canyons, the
hills, the plains, and the mountain ranges. Here are several
examples of these effects:

CONTINENTAL SHELVES—The
continental shelves that surround all the continents on the globe are
another evidence of a lower—or a gradually rising—sea level at some
earlier time. These are ledges protruding out from land beneath
the oceans. From the shoreline at the edge of the
continents, the sea slowly becomes deeper for a number of miles. This
outward extension can be as much as 750 miles [1206.9 km], but the
average width is about 42 miles [67.59 km]. Then, at a definite,
higher first point, it descends gradually to a lower second
point which has a maximum depth of about 300 feet [914 dm] to about
1500 feet [1,310 dm], with a mean depth of about 430 feet [4,572
dm]. Beyond this second point, it then descends more rapidly to the
sea bottom.

Here are four possibilities for the origin of
continental shelves:

(1) The first or second point of sudden change
may mark the ancient sea level.

(2) The second point may also mark the
freeze point, the place where the gradually filling sea greatly
slowed for a time as the rapidly obscuring volcanic dusts in the skies
caused the polar areas to begin capturing large quantities of water and
transform it into thick masses of ice. During that time of slower
infilling, gigantic waves and storms could have eroded out massive
sections.

Above the first point where the drop is much more
shallow, the storms of the main Flood may have subsided and the gentler
seas may have caused less erosion as infilling was completed.

(3) The first point edge of the shelves may
also mark the point of orogeny (mountain building), the point
where the continental blocks began uplifting and/or the—what is now
marine—blocks lowered as the result of fault slippage.

(4) The water in the oceans rose to a certain height.
Then, later, at the time of glacial melt, as the ice sheets
melted, this water flowed into the seas and brought the water level up
to its present height.

Those are the possibilities, but however it may have
happened, it took the Flood to produce the continental shelves.

"The ocean basins can thus be characterized as
overfull—water not only fills the ocean basins proper [coming up to
the continental shelves], but extends out over the low margins of
the continents [overflowing the shelves]."—*J.V. Trumbull, et
al., "An Introduction to the Geology and Mineral Resources of the
Continental Shelves of the Americas" in U.S. Geological Survey
Bulletin 1067 (1958), p. 11.

"Perhaps the ocean volume increased enough to
explain most of the relative sinking of the seamounts. If the latter
idea is correct, something on the order of a 30 percent increase in
the volume of the oceans must have occurred during the last 100
million years."—*Edwin L. Hamilton, "The Last Geographic
Frontier: The Sea Floor," in Scientific Monthly, December 1957, p.
305.

Later in this chapter, in the paragraph section
"Mountain Building," indication is given that the mountains and
continents rose both during the latter part of the Flood (late
Pliocene) and again just after it (Pleistocene). This twofold
uplift might help explain the two continental shelf point pauses in
rising ocean levels.

SEAMOUNT CORALS—Coral
and foraminifera are small plants containing sizeable amounts
of calcium, which grow close to the surface of the sea. Deposits
of these small creatures have been found on the flat-topped seamounts.
At some earlier time coral were growing on those deeply submerged
seamounts! This is an important point, since coral cannot live below a
depth of 200 feet [609 dm]. At some earlier time, the sea must
have been far below its present sea level.

The 100 million year estimate, given by *Hamilton in
the above quotation, is based on the fact that coral can only live and
grow near the ocean’s surface. Evolutionary theory has assigned those
deposits to the late Cretaceous or early Tertiary, but a sudden
infilling of water by the Flood could answer the point just as well. It
is of interest that a full 30 percent of the oceans lies above those
coral deposits on the submerged seamounts!

"For some reason that is not known, probably
having to do with isostatic adjustment or subcrustal forces, the
whole great undersea range sank and, initially, sank fast enough to
kill the reef coral when the coral dropped below its life zone of
upper water."—*Op. cit., p. 303.

Evolutionists think that the cause was a lowering of
the ocean basins. But that solution would only add 7 percent more water
to those oceans! Something more beside seafloor sinking is needed.

Submarine canyons are yet another
evidence that lower seas gradually filled and became our present
large oceans. We will discuss these canyons later in this chapter.

ORIGIN OF THE OCEANS—The
Flood, described in Genesis 6-9, has had more profound effects on our
planet than probably any other single event since its initial creation,
with the exception of the fall of man. An astounding example of this is
the vast oceans which surround the continents on every side.

With our present continents and deep ocean basins, if
all the water in our present atmosphere were to suddenly fall as rain,
it would cover the entire surface of the globe to an average depth of
only two inches (*C.S. Fox, Water, 1952). Prior to the
Flood, we apparently had a far greater amount of moisture in the
atmosphere. That would have given a more uniformly warm climate to the
entire world, and would explain why fossils of tropical plants have been
found in the far north and south. Massive amounts of water poured out
of the skies. In addition, large amounts of water apparently were
released from within the earth. Because of that, we now have so much
water in our oceans that, if the land were leveled out, "the Earth
would be completely covered by water about 0.75 mile [1.2 km]
deep"(Creation Research Society Quarterly, June 1987, p.
27). Another estimate figures it at 1.7 miles [2.7 km]: CRSQ,
September 1987, p. 54.

There are evidences that much of the present sea
bottom was once dry land:

"There are fossil landforms preserved in the
depths of the sea, where they are disturbed only by light currents
and the slow rain of pelagic material from the waters above."—*E.L.
Hamilton, "The Last Geographic Frontier: The Sea Floor," in
Scientific Monthly, December 1957, p. 303.

Immense upheavals as well as sinkings of land must
have taken place in order to provide a place to hold the oceans. If that
had not occurred, the entire earth today would be under water and there
would be no continents. Very frankly, this was an act of Divine
providence. The ocean basins had to sink and the continents rise—or
there would be no dry land after the Flood.

By the end of the Flood year, recorded in Genesis 7
and 8, "the valleys [basins] sank down" and the great masses of
water which "were standing above the mountains" "fled" and "hurried
away . . to the place which Thou didst establish for them. Thou hast set
a bound [the shorelines] that they may not pass over; that they
return not to cover the earth." Psalm 104:6-9.

SUBMARINE CANYONS—Another
relic of the Flood is the great canyons cut into the ocean floor.
These are to be found just below where each of our major rivers dumps
into the ocean. They are known as "submarine canyons." Those canyons could only have been made if the floor of the ocean
basins sank, the ocean level was then lower, and was gradually filled
by rain from the skies and by water pouring down into it from these
waterways. One example is the canyon in the ocean just opposite the
Hudson River in New York.

The evolutionary position, that the oceans did not
fill, leaves them no solution to the origin of submarine canyons.

"The difficulties encountered in explaining the
lowering of sea level necessary for the canyons to have been cut by
streams [with a volume of water such as we have today] seem
insurmountable . . If Tolstoy’s conclusion that Hudson Canyon
extends down to a depth of 15,000 feet [4,572 m] [!] is correct, the
magnitude of lowering of sea level to permit subaerial canyon
cutting seems beyond any possibility of realization."—*William D.
Thornbury, Principles of Geomorphology (1954), p.472.

You will find these diagonal canyons, cut into the
continental shelves, out beyond the mouths of all the great rivers of
the continents: the Colorado, Columbia, Amazon, etc.

Such colossal river currents could not run downward,
if the oceans were earlier at their present height. Scientists
cannot account for those canyons. Some suggest "turbidity currents," as
the answer while others recognize that something far greater was
involved.

"Can we, as seekers after truth, shut our eyes
any longer to the obvious fact that large areas of sea floor have
sunk vertical distances measured in miles."—*Kenneth K. Landes,
"Illogical Geology," in Geotimes, March 1959, p. 19.

Brown discusses their immense size and significance.

"On the ocean floor are several hundred canyons.
Some of these submarine canyons rival the Grand Canyon in
both length and depth. One canyon is three times deeper than the
Grand Canyon. Another is 10 times longer, so long that it would
stretch across the United States. Many of these V-shaped canyons are
extensions of major rivers. Examples include the Amazon Canyon, the
Hudson Canyon, the Ganges Canyon, the Congo Canyon, and the Indus
Canyon.

"How did they get there? What forces could gouge
out canyons that are sometimes 15,000 feet below sea level?
Was the ocean floor raised or the ocean surface lowered by this
amount so ancient rivers could cut these canyons? If so, how?
Canyons on the continents were supposedly formed by the cutting of
fast flowing rivers and surface drainage. However, the [current]
flows measured in submarine canyons are much too slow—generally less
than one mile per hour. Frequently the flow is in the wrong
direction. Submarine landslides or currents of dense, muddy water
sometimes occur. However, they would not form the long, branching
(or dendritic) patterns that are common to river systems and
submarine canyons. Besides, experiments with mud-laden water in
actual submarine canyons have not demonstrated any canyon-cutting
ability."—Walter T. Brown, In the Beginning (1989), p. 63.

HIGHER LAKES—It is quite
clear that at some earlier time there was much more water in the
enclosed lake basins of the continents.

Anyone who has ever driven into the Salt Lake City
area cannot help but notice the high-water marks on the surrounding
mountains. Four distinct marks are to be seen, the highest of which is
about 1,000 feet [3,048 dm] above the present level of Great Salt Lake.
At some earlier time an area of 20,000 square miles [51,798 km2]
was covered by this ancient lake (scientists call it "Lake
Bonneville").

Another basin of an ancient lake ("Lake Lahontan")
is to be found in Nevada; it once filled 8,400 square miles [21,755
km2]. *Flint, in Glacial
and Pleistocene Geology, lists 119 ancient lakes which are now
dry or nearly so.

Such raised beaches and terraces formed by ancient
lakes are to be found all over the world.

"There are many examples outside the United
States of similar lake expansions during pluvial glacial times. Lake
Texcoco in Mexico was at least 175 feet [533 dm] higher than it is
now; Lake Titicaca in South America was 300 feet [914 dm] higher;
the Dead Sea was 1400 feet [4,267 dm] higher, and as many as 15
abandoned strand lines have been observed around it; the Caspian Sea
was at least 250 feet [762 dm] higher and was apparently confluent
with the Aral Sea to the east and the Black Sea to the West."— *W.D.
Thornbury, Principles of Geomorphology (1954), p. 418.

LARGER RIVERS—There
was also a far greater volume of water flowing at some earlier time in
the rivers. It is common today to see small streams flowing between the
steep, high sides of large canyons. Obviously, at some earlier
time gigantic waterways must have flowed there for a time. In addition,
extensive deposits of sediments (alluvium) left by these
ancient rivers are to be found at higher levels.

We consistently find valleys with small streams in
their center, with evidences that once a very large river coursed
down the center of the valley.

"If a stream, or more correctly the size of the
stream meanders [the serpentining of the stream back and forth
within its base floodplain], is too small for the size of the
valley, the stream is said to underfit; if too large, it is
referred to as overfit. It is difficult to cite examples of
overfit rivers, or streams with floodplain too small for the size of
the stream. Hence there may well be a question whether overfit
streams exist . . The underfit condition can persist indefinitely;
hence many examples of such streams exist."—*W.D. Thornbury,
Principles of Geomorphology (1953), p. 156.

"Valleys commonly appear to be far too large to
have been formed by the streams that utilize them."—*O.D. von
Engeln and *K.E. Caster, Geology, pp. 256-257.

Then there are the massive flood plains, remnants of
earlier gigantic river overflows. There is an enormous flat area on
both sides of the Mississippi River. This is its flood plain, and it
extends for many miles. In ancient times, this was part of a gigantic
river, now referred to as the "Teays River."

IMMENSE EROSION AND SEDIMENTATION—(*#1/6
Water Power*)Tremendous quantities of water flowed outward
from the land; and it took a lot of soil and sediment with it. In many
parts of the world, only sand remains. This would be but another
result of the Flood. We see evidences of it today as we look at our
mountains, plains, deserts, and waterways. Consider the
Grand Canyon of Arizona.

One important result of all this was the burial of so
much vegetation and animal life. There are places in our world where
fossil-bearing sedimentary rock is several miles deep. From
bottom to top, the sedimentary rock provides fossil evidence of a
gigantic yet rapid catastrophe. Prior to the Flood this sedimentary
strata did not exist.

WAVE EROSION—Water is powerful,
not only when it is running but, when it strikes a surface head on.
Ocean waves can be very destructive, as we are told by Rachel Carson in
The Sea Around Us. *King also mentions this:

"Waves are seldom more than twenty-five feet
high; but violent storms may raise them to sixty feet, and there are
unverified reports of even greater heights . . The immense striking
power of a wave cannot be realized until it hits an object that
cannot float with it. Waves striking the shores of Tierra del Fuego
can be heard for twenty miles [32 km]. Spray from a storm wave has
been hurled to the top of a lighthouse nearly 200 feet [609 cm]
above sea level. The force of waves striking the shore can be
measured, and has been found to reach three tons per square foot
[2.7 mt per .09 m2]."—*Thomson
King, Water (1953), p. 49.

Terrible storms raged during the Flood.
Immense quantities of water were flowing, grinding, wearing away
surfaces. Massive wave action took its toll also. All this
resulted in an astounding rate of erosion, which produced sediments
which resulted in the thousands of feet of sedimentary rock strata which
we see today.

ROCK STRATA—Several
evidences in the sedimentary rock strata indicate that the sedimentary
rock strata were all laid down rapidly at one time, thus indicating a
single worldwide Flood occurred.

(1) Sedimentary rocks,
sometimes deep ones even down to the Cambrian, are in an
unconsolidated state. That is, they have not been pressed
together into solid rocks. Yet if these stones had been lying under
millions of tons of overrock for millions of years, they would long ago
have consolidated.

(2) The fossils and the rock strata
indicate rapid deposition, due to a sudden worldwide Flood,
rather than being slowly laid over a period of long ages. We discussed
this in detail earlier in this chapter in the section, Fossils
and Rock Strata. There are thousands of cubic miles of such
materials; yet hardly any of it is being made today. The entire process
took place rather quickly at some past time.

(3) The strata are confused and often
crushed. If slow, uniform layering occurred as a result of
erosional forces, the layers would also be uniform and fairly flat. As
it is, what we see is the result of a terrific upheaval.

(4) Geologists well-know that rivers only cut
through hard materials when they rush fairly straight down steeply
slanted surfaces. In contrast, rivers that meander serpentinely are
slow-moving waters going through more level land and can then only cut
through softer materials. But what we find is evidence that,
at some past time, meandering cut through, what is today, thick rock—at
such locations as the Colorado River, in the Grand Canyon of Arizona,
and the San Juan River in Colorado.

Such river canyons were not cut by rivers "over
millions of years," but instead were quickly cut through while they were
still soft and their strata had only recently been laid.

VARVE DATING—"Varved clays" are
banded sediments, with each band quite thin with light and dark color
gradations between them. "Varve chronology"
is another evolutionary means of dating the sediments, for
evolutionists theoretically interpret each varve as an annual (one year)
deposit. But we find pebbles, plants, insects, and dead
animals in the varves. How does one explain a dead fish lying on
the bed of a lake for about two hundred years without rotting while the
slowly accumulating sediments gradually cover it and then fossilize it?
Where does this occur in modern lakes? There is a lot more that could be
said on this topic, but the above should be sufficient to disprove the
theory of "varve dating."

FACTS ABOUT THE DINOSAURS—Very
high up in the theoretical column of rock strata we find the Mesozoic,
which includes the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous. In these levels
we find the dinosaurs. Apparently reptilian in
nature, many of these were gigantic creatures. The dinosaurs died
as a result of the Flood.

Evolutionists recognize that they were suddenly
destroyed all over the earth and are unable to give a
satisfactory reason why.

Scientists are puzzled why there is a dividing point
in the sedimentary strata, below which are the dinosaurs and above it no
dinosaurs. This line is referred to as the K/T boundary.

"One of the important contemporary scientific
debates is about the causes of the mass extinctions at the close of
the Cretaceous epoch, about 65 million years ago . . Scientists
refer to this crucial, enigmatic transition in the history of life
as the K/T boundary. The Cretaceous epoch is abbreviated as
K to distinguish it from the earlier Carboniferous
(coal-forming) epoch, abbreviated as C. Sedimentary rock
layers above the Cretaceous, which include the fossil record of the
Age of Mammals, are traditionally called Tertiary or T."—*R.
Milner, Encyclopedia of Evolution (1990), p. 246.

It has been suggested that the dinosaurs were killed
by volcanoes, climatic changes, or the eating of their eggs by other
animals. Yet far more delicate wildlife have survived volcanoes,
climatic changes, and egg predators. Evolution has no answer to the
extinction of the dinosaurs.

"These are some of the theories that have been
advanced to explain the sudden extinction of dinosaurs throughout
the world. Each theory will explain the death of some dinosaurs in
some places, but attempts to apply any of them, or combinations of
them, to worldwide extinction have failed. This dinosaur story is
like a mystery thriller with the last pages torn out. That is true
and the paleontologist knows it. He also knows the riddle will
probably never be solved."—*J.M. Good, *T.E. White, and
*G.F. Stucker, "The Dinosaur Quarry," U.S. Government Printing
Office (1958), p. 26.

Here are two possibilities for the extinction of the
dinosaurs:

(1) No dinosaurs were taken onto the Ark.
We have reason to believe that mankind was larger, stronger, and
longer-lived before the Flood. It was seen best not to have these giant
reptiles wandering over the earth’s surface afterward, when mankind
would become smaller and weaker. Why would dinosaurs have been taken
onto the Ark if they were only going to become extinct not long
afterward?

(2) Some Creationists believe that some young
dinosaurs may have been taken into the Ark and died out within a short
time after the Flood ended. Other animals have become extinct
after the Flood; dinosaurs could have also. It has been suggested that
the cold climate that reigned for a time after the deluge caused them to
die out.

A few of the dinosaur-type species were taken onto
the Ark. This definitely included crocodiles, alligators, and komodos,
and could also have included the young of what today are referred to as
"dinosaurs." After the Flood the dinosaurs became extinct while other
dinosaur-type creatures, the crocodiles, alligators, and komodos did
not. There is some indeterminate evidence that some dinosaurs were
alive for a time after the Flood.

A provocative recent discovery may provide additional
insight as to the cause of the disappearance of the dinosaurs. One major
short-term effect was a rapid cooling after the Flood, caused by
volcanic air pollution which kept warming sunlight from reaching the
earth for a number of years.

"Whatever triggered this decline [in worldwide
temperature at some earlier time] may also be a factor in the
extinction of the dinosaurs (which were probably adapted to mild and
equable climates) and put a premium on the warm-blooded birds and
mammals, which can maintain a constant internal temperature."—*Asimov’s
New Guide to Science (1984), p. 204.

That worldwide coolness, immediately after the
Flood, may have eliminated the dinosaurs by causing their eggs to
hatch out all males or all females.

"Crocodilians and turtles share a special
reproductive trait that is not found in any other living group of
reptiles. In all other vertebrate species [including snakes], the
sex of offspring is determined by genetics; in crocodilians and
turtles, it is determined by environment. Amazingly, whether an egg
will develop into a male or female depends on the temperature at
which it was incubated! Hotter conditions produce females in most
turtles, and males in crocodilians. Hatched under lower
temperatures, turtle eggs yield mostly males and crocodile eggs
females . . This apparently opposite effect may be related to body
size; in both cases, high temperatures produce larger individuals.
Female turtles are larger than males . . Male crocodilians are the
larger sex . .

"[If dinosaurs were heat-sexed like turtles and
crocodiles (instead of like snakes which are genetically
determined), then] changes in climate could have produced a
preponderance of one or the other sex [in dinosaurs], causing
genetic bottlenecks and sharp curtailment of breeding. Dinosaurs may
have become extinct, then, because their eggs produced too many
individuals of one sex.

"Recent studies by Graham Webb in Australia,
shows that [turtle] sex ratios are maintained by distribution of
eggs in a single nest. The top layer of eggs all developed into
males, the middle layers produced a 50-50 ratio of sexes, and the
bottom layers all hatched into females."—*R. Milner, Encyclopedia
of Evolution (1990), p. 101.

It is also of interest that a majority of the
larger dinosaurs were vegetarians, and many of the carnivorous
dinosaurs prayed upon other dinosaurs. This would explain why
dinosaurs could exist on the earth contemporaneously with man—before the
Flood and perhaps after it,—without being a major threat to him.

"Dinosaurs were mostly vegetarians, despite their
enormous size and decidedly carnivorous appearance. One exception
was the mammoth Tyrannosaurus rex, which apparently ate other
dinosaurs."—*Asimov’s Book of Facts (1979), p. 136.

Oddly enough, the dinosaurs are often displayed in
museums as an outstanding proof of evolution,—when, in fact, they are no
proof at all! (1) They were all non-evolving, distinct species,
and (2) their sudden disappearance from our planet cannot be
explained by evolutionary theories.

As with many animals, the dinosaurs apparently
gathered into groups in time of danger. The rising waters of the
Flood finally overtook and buried them beneath water and sediment.
Today, we find their bones in so-called "dinosaur graveyards." The entombment of such vast numbers of these large creatures demands
a terrible worldwide catastrophe.

The fact that they collected together in the crisis,
before dying, indicates that they were drowned by the Flood rather than
dying afterward. Tell those you meet that the dinosaurs are
another evidence of the Flood and another denial of evolution.

"As the layer [cut out of a New Mexico hillside]
was exposed, it revealed a most remarkable dinosaurian graveyard in
which there were literally scores of skeletons, one on top of
another and interlaced with one another. It would appear that some
catastrophe had overtaken these dinosaurs, so that they all died
together and were buried together."—*Edwin Colbert, Men and
Dinosaurs (1968), p. 141.

In Wyoming, dinosaur bones were found "piled in
like logs in a jam." In the Dinosaur National Monument in Utah and
Colorado (the Morrison formation of the Jurassic), over 300 dinosaurs of
many different types have been dug out.

"Innumerable bones and many fine skeletons of
dinosaurs and other associated reptiles have been quarried from
these badlands, particularly in the 15-mile [24 km] stretch of river
to the east of Steveville, a stretch that is a veritable dinosaurian
graveyard."—*Edwin Colbert, The Age of Reptiles, p. 141.

Evolutionary theory declares that the "age of the
dinosaurs"—and the death of the dinosaurs—occurred millions of years
before man evolved on this planet. But there is clear evidence
that dinosaurs and humans were living on earth at the same time.
In chapter 13, Ancient Man, we went into detail on the events
at Glen Rose, Texas, where human footprints intermingled with dinosaur
tracks in the same stratum of mud—sometimes with human footprints on top
of the dinosaur tracks. This is known as the Cretaceous Glen Rose
formation, located in flat limestone beds near the small town of
Glen Rose, Texas, and is found for some distance along the Paluxy River,
west of town. The tracks occur in trails; and, in two or three
instances, the dinosaur and human trails cross each other,—with two
known instances in which human and dinosaur tracks actually overlap each
other. Books and films of these tracks have been produced. (See the
excellent book, Tracking Those Incredible Dinosaurs and the People
Who Knew Them, by John Morris, 240 pp.)

There is a simple answer to the question of why
dinosaurs are only found in the strata of the Triassic, Jurassic, and
Cretaceous—the three divisions of the Mesozoic Era. On the basis
of Flood geology, the answer is simple enough: They could run faster
than conifers, trilobites, ocean corals, amphibians (such as frogs),
plants, and fish, all of which we find in the so-called "Paleozoic Era";
but they had a more lumbering gait than the faster mammals and birds,
which we find in the "Cenozoic Era."

MOUNTAIN BUILDING—During
the Flood, vast amounts of water came from the skies; yet, according to
Genesis 7:20, the surface of the world did not have high mountains
during the deluge.

(1) If the Flood had covered the highest mountains
we have today, there would now be no exposed continents, because
there would now be too much water in the world. (2) If
mountain building had not taken place after the Flood, there
would be no exposed continents now; since the waters covered the
highest pre-Flood mountains (Genesis 7:20).

Oceans would have forever covered the world if
mountain building had not occurred—but providentially it did. (By
"mountain building," we include not only the production of our
present mountains and ranges, but also the raising of the continental
masses,—which involved the sinking of the ocean basins.)

The ocean basins of our present world are much deeper
than before the Flood; for they must now serve as reservoirs to hold
massive amount of water which at that time poured from the skies and
burst forth from the ground. Before the Flood, the sky had a thick water
canopy of "waters which were above the expanse," and the ground had
underground channels and aqueducts filled with "the waters which were
below the expanse" (Genesis 1:7).

Not only are the ocean basins deeper since the Flood,
but the mountains are higher also:

Mount Everest is 29,028 feet [8,848 m] above sea
level, and the deepest part of the ocean (the Mariana Trench near Guam
in the Pacific) is 35,810 feet [10,915 m] deep. The highest mountain
is 5.5 miles [8.85 km] above sea level, and the deepest depression is
6.78 miles [10,914 km] below it!

Scientists have found abundant evidence of mountain
building. They call it "orogeny."On the basis of
fossil evidence, it is generally believed that most of our
mountain ranges uplifted during the Pleistocene or late Pliocene (both
of which occurred shortly after the Flood). This would agree
with Flood events. A leading evolutionist geology expert writes:

"Despite the fact that references are scattered
and the data have never been fully assembled, the worldwide
distribution of these movements is striking. In North America late
Pliocene or Pleistocene movements involving elevations of thousands
of feet are recorded in Alaska and in the Coast Ranges of southern
California . . The Alps were conspicuously uplifted in Pleistocene
and late pre-Pleistocene time. In Asia there was great early
Pleistocene uplift in Turkestan, the Pamira, the Caucasus, and
central Asia generally. Most of the vast uplift of the Himalayas is
ascribed to the ‘latest Tertiary’ and Pleistocene. In South America
the Peruvian Andes rose at least 5,000 feet [1,524 m] in
post-Pliocene time . . In addition to these tectonic movements many
of the high volcanic cones around the Pacific border, in western and
central Asia and in eastern Africa, are believed to have been built
up to their present great heights during the Pliocene and
Pleistocene."—*R.F. Flint, Glacial Geology and the Pleistocene
Epoch (1947), pp. 514-515.

Immense crustal movements occurred during the
Pleistocene or late Pliocene. Mountains rose and basins sank.
Water flowed into those basins, and under its great weight they sank
still further. (A similar sinking occurred in Antarctica, which sunk
under the weight of miles of ice piled on top of it.)

Rock strata buckled, folded, went up or down, and
sometimes was thrust sideways a short distance. Still other strata were
overturned. Out of all of this came our present great, non-volcanic
mountain ranges.

Scientists cannot provide a reasonable explanation of
such ranges, but they do try to describe the results. The term,
"folded mountains," is frequently used to describe this activity.
This vast pushing together of earth masses was accompanied by terrific
pressures on rocks that caused many of them to be crushed.

"The most conspicuous and perhaps also the most
significant structural features of the face of the earth are the
great belts of folded mountains, like those of the Himalayas, the
Andes, and the Appalachians, the so-called orogenic
[mountain-building] belts."—*W.H. Bucher, "Fundamental
Properties of Orogenic Belts," in Transactions of the American
Geophysical Union, August 1951, p. 514.

"The cause of the deformation of the earth’s
outer layers and the consequent building of mountains still
effectually evades an explanation."—*A.J. Eardley, "The Cause of
Mountain Building: An Enigma," in American Scientist, June 1957, p.
189.

Folded mountains is but one of the two major
types; the other is volcanic mountains.
Both had their origin at about the same time, although volcanic activity
on a much-smaller scale has continued since then.

Evolutionists theorize that mountains rise at a
uniformitarian, very slow rate of 1 kilometer [.62 mi] each million
years. But the theory does not fit the facts. The Cascades in the
Pacific Northwest are one of the tallest ranges in America, yet
geologists declare them to be the youngest mountain range in North
America.

"If mountains are rising at the rate of 1
kilometer [.62 mi] in 1 million years, why are some mountains so
high if they are [classified by geologists as] so young."—Ariel
Roth, "Some Questions about Geochronology," in Origins, Vol. 13, no.
2 (1986), pp. 80-81.

SUBTERRANEAN STREAMS—There
is an interesting historical statement in the book of Genesis regarding
the beginning of the Flood: "The same day were all the fountains
of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were
opened" (Genesis 7:11).

Much is involved in that sentence. Prior to the
Flood, massive quantities of water were in the ground, and the
fountains broke up—and geysered out. Enormous amounts of water
were in the water vapor canopy overhead—and the windows of
heaven opened—and it poured down.

It appears that the greater portion of the
water in the Flood—now in the oceans—came out of the earth, not out of
the skies. This upwelling of water in gigantic geysers caused
violent upheavals on the surface, but also below it. The ground
became tortured, crunched, folded, as it attempted to adapt to the
immense forces unleashed. In addition, continents began to arise and
seafloors began to sink.

(A remarkable insight about water in the ground, as
an indication of a recent Flood, is to be found in "The Earth Hasn’t
Dried Out Yet," in Appendix 5: "Things to Think About, in
Effects of the Flood on our website.)

VOLCANISM—(*#2/4 When
Water and Magma Mix*)But there was another fountain that also
opened. This was the basins of underground molten magma. When the
water came out of the ground, earth’s geologic system itself was reduced
to havoc. Material had to shift in order to fill the major gaps produced
when the water left. Huge cracks developed—and water from above went
downward and made contact with molten magma.

The Flood had begun. The fountains of the great deep
had broken up, and water poured out. Soon lava began flowing out also.
These volcanoes, in turn, produced several other effects which we will
note shortly. The release of so much water caused immense low and
high pressures within the earth itself. Gigantic cracks sent lava closer
to the surface. Water pouring down these cracks hit the molten rock, and
exploding jets of lava poured out at the earth’s surface, producing
thousands of volcanoes.

Krakatoa was a volcanic island in the Sunda Strait,
between Java and Sumatra. It had been venting for several days, when a
lateral (sideways) crack developed. Seawater poured through that crack,
and then went straight down the main vent hole. That caused the
explosion.

Next to the Tambora explosion in 1815, the explosion
of Krakatoa in 1883 was the most violent explosion of the past several
hundred years. What would it be like to have a dozen Krakatoas going off
at the same time!

That one 1883 volcano caused a worldwide drop in
temperatures that lasted five years. A similar effect occurred after
Tambora’s eruption in 1815. New England received six inches of snow in
June 1816, and temperatures there went as low as 37 degrees F [2.8o
C] that August (National Geographic,
December 1943).

There are literally thousands of extinct volcanoes at
Pleistocene and even post-Pleistocene levels around the globe. That
means they were active near the end of the Flood and for a time
thereafter.

"During past geological ages, lava flowed much
more freely than now; it not only spouted from craters, but also
pushed upward from immense cracks in the planet’s crust. Earth’s
most stupendous rock formation, stretching for more than a thousand
miles [1609 km] along the shores of Canada and Alaska, was squeezed
out in such fashion. Oozing lava built great plateaus which now
cover 200,000 square miles [517,980 km2]
in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and northern California. An even larger
eruption created India’s famous Deccan plateau, whose once molten
rock extends as much as 2 miles [3.2186 km] below the surface.
Argentina, South Africa and Brazil have similar plateaus."—*Ga1y
Webster, "Volcanoes: Nature’s Blast Furnaces," in Science Digest,
November 1957, p. 5.

"The presence of enormous masses of igneous
[volcanic] rock all over the world is another problem for
uniformitarianism. Often they are found intruding into previously
deposited sedimentary rocks or on the surface covering vast areas of
earlier deposits. The Columbia Plateau, of the northwestern United
States, is a tremendous lava plateau of almost incredible thickness
covering about 200,000 square miles [517,980 km2]
. . Nothing ever seen by man in the present era can compare with
whatever the phenomena were which caused the formation of these
tremendous structures. The principle of uniformity breaks down
completely at this important point of geologic interpretation. Some
manifestation of catastrophic action such as the breaking up of the
fountains of the great deep during the Flood is sufficient."—John
C. Whitcomb, The World that Perished (1988), pp. 84, 86.

It is clear that old lava flows are found not only
on the ground but below it, yet in no instance are lava beds from
ancient volcanoes ever found below the Cambrian level.
The beginning of the Cambrian marks the beginning of the Flood.
Thus volcanic action took place throughout the Flood, and afterward as
well,—but not before.

Volcanic action not only occurred for a time after
the Flood, but also during the Flood and as it was receding. We
know this because of pillow lavas. This is a special rounded
pillow-like shape that lava will form when ejected from a volcano
underwater. Such lava is found in great abundance all over the world,
including Canada:

"Pillow lavas . . are common in many parts of the
Canadian Shield."—*W.G.Q. Johnston, "Pillow Lava and Pahoehoe: A
Discussion, "in Journal of Geology, 77:730 (1969).

"Pillow lavas, produced as fluid lava cools
underwater, is the most abundant volcanic rock on earth."—*J.G.
Moore, "Mechanism for Formation of Pillow Lava," in American
Scientist, 63:269 (1975).

MAGNETIC CHANGES—Magnetic
changes in earth’s core, caused by structural corrections occurring
within the earth, repeatedly took place at this time. These
were caused by displaced earth, water, and volcanic explosions. This
topic is dealt with in chapter 20, Paleomagnetic Dating. [Due to
a lack of space, we had to omit nearly all of that chapter; but you will
find it on our website.]

VOLCANIC POLLUTANTS—For the
most part, air-borne pollutants do not stay aloft in the atmosphere
very long. Particles of soot or dust in the troposphere (reaching to
the top of the clouds, or to 12 miles [19.3 km] up) generally settle or
wash out, in rain or snow, within a few weeks. Gases are absorbed by
moisture within four months.

But when pollutants are shot up into the stratosphere
(between 10 and 30 miles [16-48 km] up), they may remain there for
years. Volcanoes are one of the only natural causes of this. Large
amounts of dust particles were hurled into the stratosphere by thousands
of volcanoes.

"Perhaps the heaviest polluters of the
stratosphere are volcanic eruptions: Lofting an ash cloud laden with
sulfur dioxide perhaps 12 miles [19 km], a major eruption can shroud
an entire hemisphere in a veil of particles that reduces sunshine
and lowers ground temperatures.

"Once aloft, high-altitude pollutants are assured
a long stay. Unruffled by the weather and vertical air mixing of the
troposphere, the stratosphere is cleansed by only one circulation
pattern. While strong east-west winds blow the air of the
stratosphere around the globe, a languid horizontal drift gradually
carries pollution toward the Poles. High-altitude winds in the
middle latitudes draw some air from the stratosphere downward into
the troposphere, and the rest eventually sinks in the frigid polar
areas, at last returning its freight of pollutants to earth."—*Oliver
E. Allen, The Atmosphere (1983), p. 142.

RAPID COOLING —There are
over 10,000 extinctvolcanoes in the world today. This includes
the seamounts under the ocean. They had their origin in the
catastrophic conditions below the surface of the earth at the time of
the Flood. Thousands of volcanoes poured forth so much smoke that
they darkened the sky. The result was a rapid cooling of the earth.

When Krakatoa blew its top in 1883, the explosion was
heard for thousands of miles. Over a square mile [2.5899 km2]
of dirt was blown into the skies. According to H. Wexler of the U.S.
Weather Bureau, it took three years before the Krakatoa dust settled to
earth again. He also tells us that as much as 20 percent of the solar
radiation may be reduced after just one severe volcanic eruption.

The Krakatoa dust caused a definite lowering of
worldwide temperatures for about two years. Enough dust had settled by
then, that temperatures rather quickly began to return to normal. Yet
Krakatoa was only one volcano. At the close of the Flood, when
several thousand volcanoes were erupting at the same time, climatic
conditions dramatically and quickly changed throughout the world.
When they subsided, the climate could again warm up.

A similar explosion occurred in the East Indies in
1815:

"On 7 April 1815, Mount Tambora, on a small
island east of Java, exploded. Thirty-six cubic miles [150 km3]
of rock and dust were hurled into the upper atmosphere. For that
reason, sunlight was reflected to a greater extent than usual, and
temperatures on Earth were lower than usual for a year or so. In New
England, for instance, 1816 was unusually cold, and there were
freezing spells in every month of that year, even July and August.
It was called the year without a summer."—*lsaac Asimov, Asimov’s
New Guide to Science (1984), p. 169.

An increase of carbon dioxide, from volcanic
emissions of ash, would raise the temperature but little. Even an
eightfold increase in CO2
would raise the mean temperature by only about 2° F. But the dust
factor (aerosols) would decrease the temperature significantly and more
effectively. Scientists tell us that volcanic action, sustained over
several years, could trigger an ice age.

"An increase by a factor of 4 in the equilibrium
dust concentration in the global atmosphere . . could decrease the
mean surface temperature by as much as 3.52K. If sustained over a
period of several years, such a temperature decrease could be
sufficient to trigger an ice age."— *S.I. Rasool and *S.H.
Schneider, "Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide and Aerosols: Effects of
Large increases on Global Climate," in Science, 173 (3992):138-141
(1971).

Rapid cooling, induced by hundreds and thousands of
volcanic explosions just after the Flood, brought on the ice age.

FREEZING OF POLES—(*#3/2
Killed, Frozen, and Buried*) Water changes temperature more slowly
than does soil or rock. Polar seas helped slow the freezing of the
poles; but when the freezing of polar waters finally occurred,
they locked in the cold all the more solidly.

At some point, the following scenario probably took
place:

Amid the eruptions, explosions, and pollution of
10,000 volcanoes, the poles froze and the animals, in the far north,
were overwhelmed by the cold. One of these was the mammoth, a
type of gigantic elephant.

"The extinction of the wooly mammoth in northern
Eurasia should be mentioned. In Siberia alone some 50,000 mammoth
tusks have been collected and sold to the ivory trade, and there are
rare occurrences of whole animals preserved in frozen ground."—*R.F.
Flint, Glacial and Pleistocene Geology (1957), p. 470.

Not only mammoths but a number of other animals were
rapidly frozen. Here is one scientist’s listing of the different
species which were quickly frozen:

One field zoologist, *Sanderson, tried to visualize
the possible circumstances that could have caused such quick-frozen
specimens as he had seen in the far north. The animal remains
appeared to have undergone both the effects of violent storm conditions
and rapid freezing.

"In Alaska . . the mammals and other animals,
with one or two significant exceptions, were all literally torn to
pieces while still fresh. Young and old alike were cast about,
mangled and then frozen. There are also, however, other areas where
the animals are mangled, but had time to decompose before being
frozen . . Beyond these again, there are similar vast masses of
animals, including whole families or herds, all piled together into
gulleys and riverbeds and other holes, but where only bones
remained."—*Ivan T. Sanderson, "The Riddle of the Frozen Giants,"
in Saturday Evening Post, January 16, 1960, p. 83.

Violent winds would help explain why we find large
quantities of remains clumped together, either frozen in hollows in
northern ground or as fossils contained within pockets in sedimentary
strata farther south. The lack of sunlight from volcanic dust
overhead would bring on both the intense cold in northern latitudes, as
well as violent storms that would reach down into warmer areas in the
south.

What could cause all this? *Sanderson, a non-believer
in the Genesis account, decided the storms and sudden freezing was
caused by gases and smoke shooting skyward from large numbers of
volcanoes! Here is his vivid description!

"A sudden mass extrusion of dusts and gases would
cause the formation of monstrous amounts of rain and snow, and it
might even be so heavy as to cut out sunlight altogether for days,
weeks, months or even years if the crustal movements continued.
Winds beyond anything known today would be whipped up, and cold
fronts of vast lengths would build up with violent extremes of
temperature on either side. There would be forty days and nights of
snow in one place, continent-wide floods in another, and roaring
hurricanes, seaquakes and earthquakes bringing on landslides and
tidal waves in others."—*Ibid.

The freezing of the poles had two major effects. (1)
Vast quantities of water were locked into ice in the polar regions, and
(2) Sheets of ice slid southward partway down the continents.
Popularly known as the "ice age," this is scientifically known as
the period of glaciation. It was not until the
Flood receded that the ice sheets could begin their inexorable march
southward. The ice sheets made the air above them extremely cold.

"Because incident solar radiation is mostly
reflected from a snow surface, the air above an extensive snow cover
is colder, and atmospheric pressure decreases more with altitude in
the colder air. This tends to create an upper ‘cold trough’ above an
extensive snow cover."—*L.D. Williams, "Effect of Insulation
Changes on Late Summer Snow Cover in Northern Canada, "in
Proceedings of the WMO/IAMAP Symposium on Long-Term Climatic
Fluctuations (1979), p. 444.

Evolutionists declare that it requires many thousands
of years for ice caps to form, and that their very existence is an
evidence of long ages. During World War II, a squadron of eight P-38
Lightning fighter planes left a U.S. Army air base in Greenland, headed
for Britain. But a blizzard forced them to turn back. Although they
crash-landed, all the pilots were rescued. In 1988, the U.S. Army
decided to salvage those aircraft. But, instead of dusting off a little
snow from them, as they expected, the airplanes were found to be buried
under 250 feet [76.2 m] of ice! (*Life, December 1992).

RESIDUAL CATASTROPHISM—This
is the name given to effects which occurred during a short period of
time just after the Flood was finished.
Most of what we see about us today is a result of that time span. Let us
now consider some of these effects:

The Glacial Period

GLACIATION—There is abundant
evidence that northern Asia, all of Canada, and about a fourth of the
United States was once covered by glacial ice.

These massive ice sheets were caused by two factors:
(1) The darkening of the skies by volcanic dust, and (2) the
loss of earth’s thermal blanket. This was the water vapor canopy in
the atmosphere that formerly gave our planet a continual "greenhouse"
effect.

The falling of snow stored enormous amounts of water
in the form of ice. Today the remnants of it are found primarily in
Greenland and Antarctica, but also in northern Canada and northern Asia.
If this stored water was suddenly released, all the great seaports of
the world would be covered by the seas.

Research scientists have discovered that hardly
any snow falls in the Antarctic. From the standpoint of rain and
snow, it is "the driest continent on the planet." Yet the ice in
Greenland is over a mile [1.6 km] deep, and in Antarctica it is as much
as five miles [8 km]. Originally these great polar ice caps must have
been much larger. When did all that snow fall on the Antarctic
continent?

During the ice age, so much snow was falling that
glaciers were formed which flowed outward toward the equator:

"Geologists and climatologists have tried for
more than a century to explain the recurrence of glaciation on a
continental scale. Theory after theory has been suggested, but all
explain too little or too much. None can be considered satisfactory,
at least in its present form."—*J. Gilluly, *A.C. Waters, and
*A.O. Woodford, Principles of Geology (1952), p. 319.

The Canadian ice sheet, growing from the
northeast, left much of Alaska and the Pacific slope unglaciated but
extended southward until the rim of the ice stretched over much of the
northern United States. At its maximum southern extension, the
boundary of the ice stretched from Seattle, Washington, over to Bismark,
North Dakota, and then veered southeastward, following close to the line
of the modern Missouri River, past Omaha and St. Louis, then eastward
past Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and New York, stopping at the southern
edge of Long Island.

When the ice sheets were at their farthest extent,
they covered over 17 million square miles [44 km2]
of land in both polar regions or some 30 percent of Earth’s
present land surface. This is three times as much land as is
covered by ice today.

These glaciers scoured, scored, and polished solid
granite. In other places they left dumps of sediments along their
sides (lateral moraine) and also where they finally stopped
(terminal moraine). The glaciers really left their mark on our
planet!

One example of the impact of these glaciers is to be
found in the Canadian Shield and the Great Lakes in America. The ice as
it moved southward scoured thousands of square miles of bare granite in
Canada and cut out the Great Lakes. These lakes were originally much
larger than today.

There is still much water locked up in ice in the far
north and south. The earth’s load of ice, amounting to nearly 9
million cubic miles [37 million km3],
covers about 10 percent of its land area. About 86 percent of the ice is
piled up in the Antarctic continental glacier and 10 percent in the
Greenland glacier. The remaining 4 percent is located in Iceland,
Alaska, the Himalayas, the Alps, and a few other locations. If the 23
million cubic kilometers [14 cu mi] of ice in the world melted at the
same time, the volume of the oceans would increase 1.7 percent. That
would be enough for the sea level to rise about 180 feet [549
dm]. The Empire State Building would be in water to nearly the 20th
floor. Scientists estimate that the amount of water locked up in
the oceans at the height of the ice age lowered sea level by about 400
feet [1,219 dm]. This could be one of the reasons why the
filling of the ocean basins seemed to pause for a time.

It is estimated that a drop in the earth’s average
annual temperature of only 3.50 C is sufficient to make glaciers grow;
whereas a rise of the same amount would melt Antarctica and Greenland to
bare rock in a matter of centuries.

(At the present time, an increase of world carbon
dioxide, primarily from burning of fossil fuels, threatens us with a
"greenhouse effect" and a melting of the glaciers; whereas the
opposite trend toward pollution of the atmosphere, by dust and smog,
throws particles into the air that screen sunlight from the earth,
resulting in a cooling effect. Experts are generally agreed that
the warming trend may, at present, be the more powerful of the two.)

The total coverage of glaciers was unbelievably vast.

"Some 4,000,000 square miles [10 million km2]
of North America, 2,000,000 square miles [5 million km2]
or more of Europe, and as yet little known but possibly comparable
area in Siberia were glaciated. In addition, many lesser areas were
covered by local ice caps. Thousands of valley glaciers existed in
mountains where today there are either no glaciers or only small
ones."—*W.D. Thornbury, Principles of Geomorphology (1954), p.
354.

Yet geologists have no adequate explanation for what
caused this glacial activity.

"The underlying cause of glaciation remains in
doubt . . At least 29 ‘explanations’ have been advanced to account
for widespread glaciations. Most of these had little chance of
survival from the first, but others enjoyed some degree of success
until they were rendered untenable by subsequently accumulated
information."—*William L. Stokes, "Another Look at the Ice Age,"
in Science, October 28, 1985, p. 815.

INCREASED TROPICAL RAINFALL—It
is well-known thatthere was much more rainfall in the lower
latitudes for a time after the Flood. This occurred simultaneous with
the glacial flows in the northern latitudes. Even areas which
later became deserts, such as the Sahara, had an abundance of rain.
Lakes and continental lowland basins had higher water levels. All the
rivers of the world for a time carried a far greater volume of water.

SUDDEN WARMING—Just as
surely as there was a sudden freezing, so there was a rather sudden
warming afterward. That fact summarizes
certain geologic evidence.

Recall again to mind the explosion of Krakatoa in
1883. ONE major volcanic
explosion was enough to darken the skies for thousands of square miles,
send dust around the world that remained for two years, and cool the
planet for over a year. But then everything warmed up rather quickly
after that.

Next we consider the ten thousands of now extinct
volcanoes that, at some earlier time, blew up and poured forth lava,
bombs, and dust all at about the same time. The result was not a
two-year cooling, but an ice age that lasted for an indeterminate length
of time. When the volcanoes subsided, the dust settled, and much of
the planet warmed up again. This brought a rather rapid receding of the
glacial sheets.

"The data indicate a rather sudden change from
more or less stable glacial conditions to postglacial conditions."—*D.B.
Ericson, et al, "Late-Pleistocene Climates and Deep-Sea Sediments,"
in Science, August 31, 1956, p. 388.

Evidence for a rapid warming up has been obtained
from examination of deep-sea sediments, river delta silting,
shoreline indications, and pluvial lake desiccation (drying up). Rapid
changes in each of these reveals a rather quick climatic warming.

Sudden warming would quickly increase melting of ice,
draining of glacial lakes, and water runoff through the rivers,
onto the deltas, and into the oceans.

"The level of the Great Basin lakes fell from the
highest terraces to a position close to that observed at present.
The silt and clay load of the Mississippi River was suddenly
retained in the alluvial valley and delta. A rapid ice retreat
opened the northern drainage systems of the Great Lakes and
terrestrial temperatures rose to nearly interglacial levels in
Europe. In each case the transition is the most obvious feature of
the entire record."—*Wallace Broeker, et al., "Evidence for an
Abrupt Change in Climate Close to 11,000 Years Ago," in American
Journal of Science, June 1960, p. 441.

(The "11,000 year" number, given in the above article
title, comes from radiocarbon dating; but as we learn in chapter 6,
Inaccurate Dating Methods, the actual date would be much less.)

It is radiation from the sun that warms the earth. A
greenhouse effect exists that helps to hold in that heat. This is caused
by water vapor, carbon dioxide, and ozone in the atmosphere. The Flood
removed much of the water vapor and locked large amounts of
carbon into fossils, coal, and oil. With the greenhouse effect
greatly weakened, and the sunlight blocked by volcanic dust, the glacial
sheets moved southward. But the volcanoes added more carbon to the air
and it remained after the dust settled. Sunlight could again penetrate
and water vapor was slightly restored. So a warming up occurred.

"We are now sending about 5.5 billion tons [4.1
billion mt] of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year; only
half that much can be absorbed by oceans and forests. Some
scientists predict that if the current level of fossil fuel use
continues, by [A.D.] 2030 there could be a 3-to-9 degree rise in
world temperatures. Such change should melt polar ice, raise ocean
levels and seriously disrupt agriculture and ecosystems."—*R.
Milner, Encyclopedia of Evolution (1990), p. 202.

It is of interest that so much evidence is being
found that points to a worldwide change in temperature and climate, that
a new theory has been developed to explain it. Calling it turnover
pulse hypothesis, *Elisabeth Vrba of Yale says that there were many
climatic changes, and each one killed off some species and, in some
unknown way, magically triggered the sudden evolving of new ones. She
has gathered data from all over the world indicating that at least
one massive climatic change occurred at some time in the past.

A FLOOD MODEL—(*#4/5
Petrified Wood / #5/22 Things to Think about*) You will notice that
in describing the effects of the Flood we have viewed many pieces of
a puzzle. Let us for a moment seek to put them together.The
following suggested pattern would be what scientists would call a "Flood
and post-Flood model":

Before the Flood, the climate
was warm from pole to pole, and was caused by the vapor canopy and
certain other factors. No high mountains existed, and there were only
broad rivers and small seas. Dinosaurs were alive, but the largest of
them were plant eaters, and the fiercest may have occupied themselves
with attacking the vegetarian ones (just as the gigantic sperm whale
only attacks the giant squid, while ignoring the other ocean creatures).
Yet, either way, because of man’s sin "the earth was filled with
violence" (Genesis 6:13)—probably both by man and beast, and between
them.

The Flood began all at once, as the rain
fell and reservoirs of water beneath the surface burst forth. Enormous
cavities were found in the ground, where the water had collapsed inward.
The geologic balance was upset and gigantic cracks opened, letting water
pour back downward into pools of hot magma farther below.

At the same time, the ocean basins began lowering
and/or continents rising to some extent. More lowering and rising would
occur later. Water would have been the calmest in the far north and
south, and ocean currents would have been the slowest there.

"Superimposed on all the general turmoil of the
Flood would be the effect of the moon’s gravitational pull on the
worldwide ocean. At the present time the moon pulls up a "bulge" of
water and, as the earth rotates beneath it, this bulge is seen as
the tide coming in; however, the waters today never go beyond their
prescribed limits.

"In the Genesis Flood, the bulge remained and was
not dissipated at the shorelines so that the earth, continuing to
spin beneath it, would cause a buildup of tremendous currents. The
velocity of the water traveling over the submerged earth could have
been hundreds of miles per hour directly beneath the bulge but taper
off to nearly zero towards the poles of the earth’s axis.

"The process would produce great quantities of
sediment and lead to a complex but, nevertheless, organized
imposition of forces upon the deposition rates of sediment and
suspended matter."—Ian T. Taylor, In the Minds of Men (1987), p.
111.

Terrific storms occurred, and the water level
continued to rise. Rapidly flowing water, massive wave action, rapid
sedimentary coverage, water deposition and suction action, gigantic mats
of vegetation, volcanic fire and lava, seismic ("tidal") waves—all
worked together to wreck havoc.

Marine animals were washed up by the roiling waters
and covered by "Cambrian"sediments. More marine
animals were covered by "early Paleozoic"gravel,
sand, and clay.

The slowest land animals and some fish were buried
in "Silurian"dirt. By now the waters were higher and
began covering the seed plants with "Devonian"soils.

Soon, the rising waters reached the conifers and
buried them beneath "Permian"deposits. The slowest of
the lumbering dinosaurs were overtaken next, and were covered by "Triassic"soils.

By now the storms had become so violent that animals
were thrown together into pockets and "fossil graveyards"
became common.

Eventually, the "Jurassic"and
"Cretaceous"sediments had buried the last of the dinosaurs,
and the fleeter mammals were being overtaken and buried by
"Tertiary"earth. Then the last of them were entombed
underneath "Quaternary"sediments.

Almost no humans were buried, almost no apes, and
relatively few birds. Why? Because they knew how to keep going on to the
very end, apes and man could climb to the very highest points and cling
to trees and rocks. And when the end came, there were no more burials,
only a sinking through seas to the ocean floor beneath where they would
decay away or be eaten by fish still alive in the ocean.

As the waters advanced, earth movements
increased, and these, along with the violence of storms and volcanic
action—resulted in "discontinuities"—locations
where an arrangement of vertically-stacked strata would end, while
horizontally next to it a differently-arranged strata pattern would
begin.

Soon there was a worldwide sea; for
the waters had covered the highest mountains, which never had been high
to begin with (Genesis 7:20).

Gigantic mountain building now began in
earnest. The lowest basins had been first to fill with water
and, under its weight, began to settle. So much water had been taken out
of the ground that it was structurally looser. Water flowing down
volcanic cracks caused massive explosions. As the waters covered most of
the earlier volcanoes in the oceans (now called seamounts),
seawater would flow down vent holes—and cause terrific explosions, which
would blow off their tops.

As the Flood receded, under the impact of
all that was taking place, the great ocean basins lowered and the
continents rose higher—all part of a balancing act that scientists call
geostasy. Once or twice there was a pause that caused our present
continental shelves. This occurred either while the oceans were
initially filling or later, as these mammoth earth movements were taking
place.

Sinking pressures, rising pressures, and lateral
pressures—resulted in gigantic folding. And huge mountain chains were
lifted up. The Appalachians probably arose earlier, for today they show
evidence of having been rounded by Flood waters. Many other ranges were
pushed up. One of the last ranges to arise was the northern Cascade
Mountains in Washington State, for they show little evidence of Flood
erosion.

As more and more dry land appeared,
volcanic ranges also arose. Belts of volcanoes encircle the Pacific
Ocean, run through the Mediterranean, and elsewhere.

The glacier sheets advanced outward from the polar
regions. These probably covered much of Europe, Asia, and North America
for several centuries before receding. But even after they did, few
civilizations were able to enter those colder areas until they warmed up
sufficiently. This did not occur until just before the time of Christ.

While the northern latitudes were wrapped in colder
weather, Egypt, the Near East, and India had ideal weather. It was
probably similar to Southern California, although with much better
rainfall.

The gradual warming of the planet resulted in several
major effects that began just after the time of Christ: (1) The Near
East, where civilization had once been centered, slowly became a hot,
desolate wasteland. (2) Warming up, northern Europe gradually filled
with racial groups, which then invaded and conquered the Roman Empire.
(3) Europe became the center of civilization in the West. (4) The Near
East became a dry, nearly treeless desert.

CONCLUSION—(*#6/38
Additional Evidences of the Flood / #7 The Water Explosion*) A
number of variant Flood models could have been presented which probably
would have summarized the data just as well. But they would not be much
different from this one.

The facts, taken as a whole, point to a worldwide
Flood, and not to long ages of sedimentary strata production and
transitional species evolution.

The Flood was so universal and cataclysmic in its cause, scope, and
results that it has had lasting effects on the earth, the sky, and all
life forms from that day to this. It is impossible to discuss
Creation and evolution without giving close attention to the Flood and
its powerful effects.

EVOLUTION COULD NOT DO THIS

The trilobite is abundant in the very lowest fossil levels; but,
according to *Levi Setti, its eye is said to have "possessed the most
sophisticated eye lenses ever produced by nature," which required
"knowledge of Fermat’s principle, Abbe’s sine law, Snell’s law of
refraction and the optics of birefringent crystal." He concludes: "The
lenses look like they were designed by a physicist."

Because crayfish and lobsters live their lifes moving
backward, they have an unusual internal plumbing system. The kidney is
located in front of the mouth, so the gill circulation can carry the
wastes away from the body. If the kidney outlet was near the back end as
in most creatures, the wastes would be carried to the gills. This
perfect design enables crayfish and lobsters to live efficiently,
whether very slowly crawling forward or rapidly swimming backward.

One bacterium has small hairs twisted in a stiff
spiral at one end of the creature. Upon closer microscopic examination,
scientists were totally amazed to discover that this bacterium has a
rotary engine! It spins this corkscrew like the propeller of a ship,
driving itself forward through water. It can even reverse the engine!
Researchers still do not understand how it is able to whirl the
mechanism. Using this method of locomotion, it is able to attain speeds
which would, if it were our size, propel it forward at 30 miles [48 km]
per hour. Commenting on this, *Leo Janos in Smithsonian said that
"nature invented the wheel." Another researcher, *Helmut Tributsch,
declared: "One of the most fantastic concepts in biology has come true:
Nature has indeed produced a rotary engine, complete with coupling,
rotating axle, bearings, and rotating power transmission."

The theory of evolution is based on the idea that, in
any given enviroment, only a certain organism will succeed and all
others will fail and die out.

The monkey is said to have developed a tail so it can
climb trees better, but the gibbon, manx cat and bear climb trees and
they have no tails. the domestic cat climbs trees and has a tail, but
does not use it for that purpose.

The horse has uncrowned teeth, long legs, and a bushy
tail so it will be "fit for survival." The cow grazes in the same field
and has crowned teeth, shorter legs, and a tail with a tuft on the end,
and does just as well.

Why does the female duke of burgundy butterfly walk
on six legs, while its mate only walks on four?

Evolutionists say that plants evolved berries to aid seed
distribution by animals. Why then are some berries poisonous?

CHAPTER 14 - STUDY AND REVIEW QUESTIONS

EFFECTS OF THE FLOOD

GRADES 5 TO 12 ON A GRADUATED SCALE

1 - Discuss and contrast the theory of
uniformitarianism with the fact of catastrophism.

2 - Select one of the following topics and write a
report on how it points to a former worldwide Flood: (1) the existence
of sedimentary strata and fossils; (2) why smaller, slower fossils are
found lower in the strata and larger, faster ones are found at higher
levels; (3) the fact that fossil deposits were laid down so rapidly; (4)
the fact that, beginning with the lowest fossil strata, the Cambrian,
there is such a vast amount of fossils, yet below it there is next to
nothing; (5) the existence of polystrate trees; (6) coal and oil
deposits; (7) the origin of graded bedding; (8) unity of the strata; (9)
strata sequence and overthrusts.

3 - There are several evidences of what conditions
were like before the Flood. In a brief paragraph or two, discuss one of
the following: (1) pre-Flood climate; (2) pre-Flood atmosphere; (3)
pre-Flood oceans.

4 - The Flood affected the entire world, and it was
mentioned in later records. Select one of the following topics and write
a half-page article on it: (1) Flood stories; (2) Noah’s name in world
languages; (3) the Flood in Chinese; (4) the size of Noah’s Ark in the
Biblical record; (5) Flood chronology in the Biblical record.